In a Lawsuit, Same-Sex Couples Say New York State Ruined Their Wedding Plans

By THOMAS CRAMPTON

Published: April 8, 2004

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit yesterday against New York State's Department of Health on behalf of 13 same-sex couples whose plans to be married by the mayor of New Paltz were thwarted after criminal charges were brought against him.

The marriages never took place because Mayor Jason West, who officiated at 25 same-sex marriages in February, was charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of solemnizing unlicensed marriages and placed under a court injunction to cease doing so. The same charge was filed against two Unitarian ministers who stepped in to solemnize marriages in the mayor's place.

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Albany, brings to three the number of suits filed in New York recently by advocates of same-sex marriage. Each has been filed in a different jurisdiction, covering three of the state's four judicial departments and challenging the law in slightly different ways.

The first lawsuit, filed by five couples backed by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, sued the clerk of the City of New York because he would not issue marriage licenses to them. Outside New York City, the State Department of Health administers marriage licenses.

The second lawsuit was filed by 10 couples from Nyack, including the mayor and his partner, against the town clerk of Orangetown and the State Health Department. Backed by the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Norman Siegel, the suit contends that the clerk broke with proper procedure by refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

''We welcome the number of lawsuits from different areas and perspectives,'' Mr. Siegel said yesterday, ''because this shows that it is not an issue divided by upstate-downstate.''

An argument common to the lawsuits is that any law barring same-sex marriage denies lesbians and gays the guarantees of equal protection and due process under the state's constitution.

For all the geographical and legal differences, however, the lawyers involved expect the cases to be amalgamated in the two years it may take to reach the state's highest judicial level, the Court of Appeals.

''These cases stand a much greater chance of getting a conclusive outcome than the previous attempt to tackle same-sex marriage through a lawsuit,'' said Peter J.W. Sherwin, a partner at the Proskauer Rose law firm and chairman of the New York State Bar Association's civil rights committee. ''The timing is right for the courts to decide on this issue, in part because it is not coming out of the blue this time.''

Previously, the highest-profile litigation relating to same-sex marriage came with a 1996 lawsuit by a male couple against the city clerk of Ithaca for the right to wed, Mr. Sherwin said, adding that the court dismissed the case on appeal because the Department of Health was not named as a defendant.

In announcing its lawsuit yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union tried to personalize the argument for same-sex marriage rights by presenting most of the plaintiffs at a news conference in Manhattan. ''It is not about partisan politics, it is not about culture wars,'' said Roberta A. Kaplan of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, who is co-counsel in the lawsuit. ''It is about having the right to visit one's spouse in the hospital or make a medical decision in case of emergency.''

Citing reasons that included immigration issues, health insurance and parental rights, the couples elaborated on ways they said marriage would change their lives.

Sylvia L. Samuels, who is awaiting a liver transplant, said she wanted Diane P. Gallagher, her partner of 24 years, to have the same parental and medical rights as a wife or husband. ''We already had experience with this issue in North Carolina when we went to the emergency room when Sylvia had a biking accident,'' Ms. Gallagher said. ''They would not let me have access to her and even snickered when I explained we were domestic partners.''

Amy B. Tripi and her partner of seven years, Jeanne L. Vitale, want the sanction of marriage so they can avoid paying a fee of several thousand dollars to undertake the lengthy process of adoption by a second parent, which will start after Ms. Tripi gives birth to a child, expected in September. ''It is not just the cost or the trouble,'' Ms. Vitale said. ''It is about what happens if something happens to the baby when Amy is away.''

Wade O. Nichols brought a photograph of his partner of five years, Francis Shen, a Taiwanese citizen, to the news conference. Since the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage, Mr. Shen cannot obtain the citizenship rights normally accorded to the spouse of a United States citizen. ''I have been forced to live most of my time in Taiwan,'' Mr. Nichols said. For many couples, it was a simple question of civil rights. ''We are New Yorkers, we are U.S. citizens and we want our rights protected,'' said Alice Muniz, a New York City police officer who has been with her partner, Oneida Garcia, for four years.

Photo: Chelsea Dreher with a photo of herself, right, and her partner, Laura Collins. They are suing the state. (Photo by Ting-Li Wang/The New York Times)